The present invention relates to an electrical cable assembly, and more particularly, to an electrical cable assembly in which signal conditioning circuit elements terminate multiple electrical cable conductors.
An electrical cable assembly as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,358,426 and 4,023,879, comprises, an electrical cable with multiple electrical conductors, and a housing attached to the cable, and electrical contacts in the housing. For a cable assembly without signal conditioning circuit elements, the electrical contacts connect directly to respective cable conductors. For a cable assembly with signal conditioning circuit elements, such as resistors, capacitors and inductors, the circuit elements are mounted in the housing, and are connected with electrical contacts in the housing. When the circuit elements are individual, or discrete, circuit elements, each must be individually mounted in the housing, and individually connected to electrical contacts. Time is expended to incorporate individual circuit elements into the cable assembly. Further time is expended to connect individual circuit elements with cable conductors and electrical contacts.
A problem to be solved is to improve the manner in which signal conditioning circuit elements are incorporated into a housing and connected to electrical contacts and multiple cable conductors.
According to the invention, a cable assembly incorporates a circuit board with signal conditioning circuitry. The signal conditioning circuitry on a circuit board replaces individual circuit elements. The circuit board is a feature that reduces the time required to incorporate signal conditioning circuit elements with the cable assembly, and reduces the time required for connection of the circuit elements with the electrical contacts and with the cable conductors. Circuit elements that provide signal conditioning can be mounted on the circuit board, and circuitry on the circuit board can be aligned with the joined with electrical contacts and cable conductors. The electrical contacts are connected to the circuit board, and multiple conductors of an electrical cable are connected to the circuit board. Thus, a feature of the invention resides in a circuit board to incorporate signal conditioning circuitry in a cable assembly.
An advantage of the invention resides in a cable assembly having a housing that is constructed for alignment of a circuit board relative to electrical contacts and multiple cable conductors, which improves the time expended for performing connection of signal conditioning circuitry with the contacts and the cable conductors.